Southern California -- this just in

Suspect dressed as ninja fatally stabs 18-year-old, police say

December 21, 2011 | 9:44
am

The mother of an 18-year-old Murrieta woman who was fatally stabbed by a man dressed as a ninja said her daughter died "screaming for us to help her."

Police said the suspect, 19-year-old William Gary Simpson Jr., entered a home just before 4 a.m. Tuesday in the 40000 block of Milkwood Lane in Murrieta. He went upstairs and fatally stabbed Saskia Burke, 18, police said. Her father and boyfriend tried to help her, but were also stabbed, police said.

Saskia "died in pain," her mother, Catherine Burke, said. "She died screaming for us to help her. And by the time we got there, he had already murdered her."

Paramedics took Paul Burke and the 17-year-old boy to a nearby hospital, where they both underwent emergency surgery.

Simpson is still at large, and police say he is their only suspect in the deadly stabbing.

Police say a knife was recovered at the scene.

Neighbors say Simpson was one of several foster children who used to live at the house. Sometime last year, the family asked Simpson to leave for an unknown reason, according to police.

"I don't understand," Catherine Burke said. "We always took kids in. We always had kids here.... We were just the kind of family that kids came to."

Simpson is 6 feet 3 inches tall weighs 120 pounds and, according to police, was last seen running from the scene.

Anyone with information is urged to call Murrieta police at (951) 696-3615.